


Sneaking Around Is More Fun

by Owlover1



Series: Gotham Is Home [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug, Super Sons (Comics)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol, Drug Use, F/M, Gotham Academy, High School, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27992739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlover1/pseuds/Owlover1
Summary: All Marinette wanted was to enjoy her last year of high school in Gotham.Instead she finds herself sucked back into the responsibility of making sure people don’t die. Sure she makes a bunch of new friends and finds love, but did she really have to face a murder for that.Senior year at Gotham Academy was normally filled with parties, college planning, and experiencing new things but this year it seemed to be created to give Marinette an existential crisis.Damian was glad to finally finish high school, all he had to do was excel in class and interact as little as possible with the imbeciles that were his classmates. Most of his time would be dedicated to the important things in life like running the teen titans, playing with animals, and finally finishing the oil painting he had started of his family.He didn’t plan for Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne
Series: Gotham Is Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050224
Comments: 6
Kudos: 76





	Sneaking Around Is More Fun

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, this is my first fanfiction ever so feedback would be greatly appreciated. I took inspiration from "the essentials of us" by maygp I looked at their longer story that started on Ch 8. I also took inspiration from the TV Show Veronica Mars.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dorm is definitely different than living with her parents and Marinette is determined to make the most of it. A cool roommate definitely doesn’t hurt.

“Yeah Ayla, I think I’m really going to like Gotham. I already feel inspired. There’s just something special about this place,” Marinette said as she shoved open the door of her new room. Her arms clutched a cardboard box slightly banged up from traveling Paris, France to Gotham, New Jersey. A pile of boxes containing all her belongings spread out across her new shared living room.

“I’m glad you like Gotham. Just remember we’ll all really miss you in Paris,” said Ayla. Marinette set down the box in her arms on her blank mattress.

“Of course. I’ll miss everyone too. I just wanted something new,” Marinette said as she grabbed her light pink sheets from the box on her bed. She heaved the box to the ground in order to stretch her bed sheet on.

“Yeah, everybody over here totally understands that. Especially with Hawkmoth not around anymore, everything’s become a bit boring. I mean is it too much to ask for at least a hero throw down once a month. Gotham sounds so cool. Oh my god, what if you see the bats. Pleasseee take a picture for me,” Alya groaned, desperation leaking out of her voice. She was having trouble adjusting from The Ladyblog being her whole life to suddenly having to get new hobbies. She had spent the summer interning with Nadja Chamack and now had to adjust to having to go to school without the interruptions of something interesting.

“Ok Alya, if I see them I’ll try to snap a picture. Just remember, I have a sense of self preservation _and_ Gotham is more dangerous than Paris,” Marinette said, snickers filling her sentences. Her hands now focused on the task of arranging her bedding to look put together and warm, while her phone rested on the carpeted floor.

“Gurl, I hear you laughing. But I’m serious, can you imagine just deciding to be a hero without any powers. They must be crazy talented.” Alya said with a playful attitude. She shifted in her bed, sending a crinkling sound through the phone.

“Or plain crazy, just like you,” said Marinette, mirth clear in her tone. She had finished setting up her bed and decided to focus on bringing all her stuff from the small shared living room into her bedroom. Her things were currently blocking the entrance to her roommate's bedroom on the other side of the living room. Luckily, her roommate hadn’t arrived yet so they didn’t have to deal with her mountain of stuff.

“Enough about me and my _slight_ lack of self preservation skills, tell me all about your trip. Oh, and don’t forget I want to know all about your new roommate too,” Ayla said. She flipped onto her back dragging her phone closer to her ear in preparation to listen to Marinette.

“Let’s see…the flight was pretty long but it _definitely_ wasn’t as bad as the time I had that 11 hour red-eye when I went to Shanghai last summer. God, that messed up my sleep schedule so much. Um…the taxi I took to the dorm wasn’t too expensive. Oh, apparently they have a really good subway system so I’ll be able to explore the city pretty easily. Also, Gotham Academy is _so_ pretty. It’s no wonder the tuition is so high, even my dorm has that English castle aesthetic. Let’s see…as for my roommate, I haven’t met her yet but hopefully I’ll meet her tonight and she doesn’t spend all of Saturday out and about,” Marinette said as she continued to shuffle between the living room and her bedroom. The pile now resembled a small clump instead of the earlier mountain.

“Well that’s good, it would suck if you hadn’t been able to explore the city. Ugg, your dorm sounds _so_ pretty. I hope your roommate works out, maybe you’ll even gain a whole bunch of friends when you're there. Honestly, I’ve never met someone who can make friends as fast as you do. Like, by junior year you were a confident boss ass bitch,” said Ayla.

“Aww, thanks for the compliment, Alya. I sure hope I get along with my roommate and I’m definitely planning on experiencing as much of American culture as possible,” said Marinette as she finished loading the last of her books into her room.

“Maybe you’ll finally find a hot American boyfriend,” Alya teased as she sat up on her twin bed.

“Alyaaaa, I’m not here to get a boyfriend. But I guess if I reallyyy liked some-” The sound of a door opening interrupted Marinette’s sentence and alerted her to her new roommates arrival.

“Hey Alya, it sounds like my new roommate is here. I think I’ll go get to know her but I’ll definitely talk to you again soon,” said Marinette as she walked toward her door ready to greet her roommate.

“Bye girl, I’ll talk to you later. Have fun with your roommate for me,” said Alya.

“Bye,” said Marinette as she hung up her phone and placed it on the dresser she had dragged in earlier. She pushed open her bedroom door with a creak. A smile found its way to her face as she saw her new roommate. She was filled with excitement that she hadn’t felt in a while as she prepared to introduce herself.

* * *

When Emiko was confronted with finally choosing a roommate for senior year she wasn’t too excited. The whole of her dorm experience in high school would best be described as…mediocre. There was Freshman year, where her roommate was the type of girl that would have rather been struck dead than be associated with the words bookworm or teacher's pet. Which created some conflict when she realized that those words definitely applied to Emiko. Then there was Sophomore year which was spent mostly alone wondering if her roommate still lived with her until she would hear something from across the dorm. Junior year had been the best of all, spending time with a person she had a few classes with that knew a lot of history trivia from academic decathlon which made her rigorous school schedule a little easier to manage.

So when she had to pick a new roommate she saw the box that indicated exchange student and thought it couldn’t be too terrible, and it might even be exciting. It wasn’t until Emiko saw a box in the living room as she opened the door did she fully comprehend that she had no idea who she would be living with senior year.

* * *

The door creaked open as Emiko shoved herself through the entryway carrying a massive stack of books. After the long and exciting day she spent in a bookstore downtown, she was more than ready to rest on the couch and rip open the packet of Pocky she had gotten during her trip downtown.

Marinette took a few steps toward the entryway and observed a girl with long black hair that brushed against her waist in an oversized light pink graphic t-shirt with a cute fried egg picture tucked into some slightly baggy jeans coupled with an oversized knit white cardigan. The look took a comfortable but cute approach that Marinette thought was appropriate for someone carrying what looked to be a stack of Shakespeare plays and some other books in German. Hmm, she had never really been friends with a book nerd before, the closest she had come was Alya’s massive enthusiasm for comics. It was an exciting prospect to meet someone with different interests to her, hopefully they would get along well.

Emiko leaned down, clutching her stack of books in her left hand, nudging aside her over the shoulder bag to the left side of her hips. Bringing her right foot up she reached down to slip off her shoe. A moment later she came to the realization that she did not have the scene of balance necessary to pull off her attempted balancing act. She mentally prepared herself for the inevitable fall about to take place.

Except, the fall never came. Instead she felt someone's hand steady her shoulder and her books being tugged out of her grip.

“It looked like you needed some help there. Wouldn’t want my first interaction with my roommate to be with them on the floor. My name's Marinette Dupain-Cheng, how about you?” A bright enthusiastic voice said as they helped her out of her earlier predicament.

“Oh, umm. My name is Emiko Miki, nice to meet you. And thanks, I would have fallen if you hadn’t come to help,” uttered Emiko as she finished slipping off her shoes and putting them on the rack in the entryway.

“That’s a cool name. I see you like to read, I am more interested in fashion design myself but maybe we’ll find some books to bond over,” said Marinette as she walked over to their little common room and set the stack of books down on the coffee table.

“Yeah, reading is my favorite thing to do, I also really love learning different languages. Speaking of which, the administration mentioned you're a French exchange student. How’s America so far, I know it was super different when I came here the first time,” Emiko said as she stepped towards where Marinette was now sitting in the common room.

“Yup, I used to live in Paris. I’ve actually been to America, specifically Gotham, with my grandma before. I really loved it here which is part of the reason I decided to come. Where are you from, you don’t really have an accent I can place.” Marinette said as she tried to decide what the German books could be about.

“I’m from Japan, but I decided to spend all of high school here at Gotham Academy. My family still comes to visit a bunch like they have since I was little so I still see them a lot during the school year,” said Emiko as she took a seat next to Marinette on the couch.

“Oh I've always wanted to visit Japan. I’m also really curious what Gotham Academy is like though…how would you describe it and the students here?” Said Marinette as she turned her focus to Emiko.

“That’s definitely a good question…um…I would definitely say that the school is really prestigious so the classes are pretty challenging but they are also really interesting. The people though, let’s see there are a few groups…um the party kids who definitely don’t go here because the classes are rigorous. Then the foreign students that are attracted to the prestige the school has, which would be me. Lastly maybe, the scholarship students that worked really hard to get here. Of course there are all types of people that it’s so hard to make a generalization like that.”

Emiko answered as she pondered just how everyone in her school would appear to someone new.

“Yeah I get that, it reminds me of my friend Kagami’s school back in Paris, except they didn’t have dorms,” Marinette said as she nodded in understanding.

“It will be nice to get to know you, we should eat breakfast tomorrow to talk more because I kind of need a break after spending the day out and about in the city. But it was nice to meet you.” Emiko said as she lifted herself off the couch.

“Yeah it was nice to meet you too. And I am definitely up for breakfast tomorrow. I kind of still have to finish packing too but I’ll talk to you later.” Said Marinette as she headed to her room grabbing the last box on the way to her room.

* * *

  
  


Once Marinette was in her room she set herself down on the school provided desk chair that was much comfier than one would expect from school provided furniture and thought about how she got to the particular moment she was in.

Once she, Chat, and Ryuko had finally defeated Hawkmoth Junior year living in Paris was difficult. After being responsible for the city for so long every space from the Eiffel Tower to her own home was filled with memories of a war that she fully comprehended the weight of when she had accepted the miraculous as a little kid. She realized she had to leave when Jagged stone commissioned her for another touring costume that February and every time she explored the city for inspiration she was haunted by memories she hadn’t even known she was spending so much effort repressing.

After that incident she informed Jagged she was having trouble being inspired in Paris because she was finally processing living under the reign of Hawkmoth. Jagged had been understanding and came up with the idea of spending her last year of high school abroad and just taking le Bac when she came back to Paris.

With that idea the rest of Junior year was spent in a flurry of deciding where to go to school for her last year of Lycée. After remembering how much she liked Gotham when she visited with her Nona for her 15th Birthday the summer before Sophomore year she was set on finding a school there. Eventually, she decided on Gotham Academy that had dorms she could live in, which to her was better than staying with some random host family. Gotham Academy also had great business and design programs that excited and inspired her.

Now that she was finally there the excitement had yet to wear off, she came to the conclusion that she had made the right decision after all.

Marinette spun the chair and hoped off, ready to start getting prepared for the days ahead.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. I'm writing this while procrastinating my finals. Hopefully, I'll have more time to write once this semester ends and I get a month off. Any comments pointing out writing errors are much appreciated, so is Constructive criticism.


End file.
